07 January 2010

Tweets from 1878

A friend has sent me the latest tweets from Alain de Botton, including -
'And what did you do today daddy?' Three paragraphs. And to think this might count as an honest living.

Good work only happens in the last 10 minutes of the day, when the fear of not accomplishing anything at last exceeds the fear of writing.

Writerly self-disgust: How rare to finish a day and think: I have worked hard and dutifully to the best of my ability. 1 day out of 20?
Lichtenberg and Kraus did 'the aphorism thing' so much better.

By accident I then encountered extracts from the Woodbury (Connecticut) Reporter of 1878. It reads as the Twitter of the steam age -
On the 18th Gordon Castle lost a valuable cow. She was bitten by his own dog some six weeks ago. The dog also bit his horse at the same time and tried to bite some of the family, then disappeared and has not been seen since. The cow had all the symptoms of hydrophobia in its worst form.

Mrs. Cyrus Wetmore fell into a cistern, which her husband had just finished digging to the depth of six feet. She was badly bruised but no bones broken. Fairchild Burritt lost a fine young cow to-day, choked with an apple.

... Roderick Atwood is at work on his new mill, dam and raceway. Minortown will have special facilities in the mill line. Two birth-days occurred on the 26th inst in one neighborhood. Mrs. Sally Hurd was 80 years old, and Mrs. Eli Peet 55.

Frederick Atwood met with an accident last week while riding on a load of corn fodder. He was driving on a side hill, the wagon ran over a rock, turning him over and sending him some distance down the hill. He is badly bruised.

Marcus D. Smith is sick with a combination of chills and fever - some thing new for this region.

W.A. Strong left at our office, yesterday, a bunch of ripe strawberries, picked in his garden. They were a novelty at this season, and were duly appreciated. ...

S.B. Scott has some Lawton blackberries which look like giants among the common varieties.

C.W. Mitchell and family are appending a few days at Sea View, West Haven. Mr. and Mrs. W.S. Seeley are sojourning at Mt. Washington. Frank Peck and Bartlett Terrill and their wives are disporting themselves at Milford point.